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Analyze Data: Stata

Contributors: Lindsay Plater and Riley Oremush

What is Stata?

  • Stata (by StataCorp and pronounced “Stay-ta”) is a point-and-click statistical software used to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. It also has the capability to be code / command-driven using the syntax editor. See here for an overview of Stata programming.
  • Stata’s documentation provides information on Stata functions, including: a description of each test, the format the data should be in to properly run the test, the assumptions that need to be considered, and step-by-step instructions for how to compute the test. This is one of the best places to go when looking to run a specific test. They also have a Stata introduction (PDF) and a graph overview.

Where can I access Stata?

  • Stata is available on the library public computers for use by University of Guelph students, staff, and faculty during library hours.

How do I get started with Stata?

The Stata documentation referenced earlier is a great place to start when you are looking for help on how to do certain tasks in Stata. This guide contains step-by-step help (and screenshots) for a few common Stata tasks, including:

  • How to use Stata: The basics
    • The Stata Screen
    • Data Entry
    • Importing Data
    • Compute variables
  • How to use Stata: Descriptive statistics
    • Summarize
    • Normality
    • Crosstabs

Accessibility Statement

This guide has been created and tested with accessibility in mind. Our goal with all guides is to ensure WCAG 2.2 AA compliance. Due to a lack of accessible alternatives, we have linked to PDF documents from Stata that fail to meet this requirement. Please contact the library if you encounter any barriers.

Please also note that the library does not currently offer statistical analysis support in Stata. However, we will continue to periodically monitor this guide to ensure all links are active and that we are linking to the best resources possible.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.